IT & Digital Media Platforms: Enhancing Performance at Marks & Spencer

This research project investigates the significance of information technologies and digital media platforms in enhancing the performance and development of Marks & Spencer. It explores the conceptual framework of IT and digital media within organizations, identifies the types of digital media platforms adopted by M&S, and discerns the benefits and challenges experienced by the company. The study uses a literature review and data analysis to address research questions about the impact of digital media on organizational performance, aiming to provide valuable insights for companies looking to adopt suitable digital media platforms and overcome implementation challenges. The report covers the research methodology, findings, conclusion, and recommendations for M&S, highlighting the importance of digital transformation in today's business environment.

RESEARCH PROJECT
(A study of the significance of information
technologies and digital media platforms to
enhance the performance and development of the
organisation”: A study on Marks and Spencer.)

Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE- INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................7
What is the conceptual framework of information technologies and digital media platforms
within an organisation?...............................................................................................................7
What are the various types of digital media platforms and information technologies adopted
by Marks & Spencer?................................................................................................................10
What are the benefits experienced by Marks & Spencer by the adoption of digital media
platforms ?.................................................................................................................................13
CHAPTER THREE- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY................................................................16
CHAPTER FOUR- DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINS.............................................................20
CHAPTER FIVE- CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS............................................27
CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................27
RECOMMENDATIONS..........................................................................................................28
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................30

CHAPTER ONE- INTRODUCTION
Background to the research
Digital media is any type of media that considers electronic devices for the distribution
and promotion of the products and services. This type of media could be viewed, created,
distributed and modified via electronic devices. Digital media is generally considered websites,
online advertising, software, social media and many more (De Seta, 2018). Even though digital
media is one of the significant parts of everyday culture, there are many business owners who
still find difficulty in replacing their paper advertisement with digital marketing services. With
the continuous shifts towards advance technology, one could not deny that digital media has
positive impact over the business because it makes simple for organisation to take their products
and services to potential as well as existing customers (Leite, 2020). In simpler words, digital
media changes the way company interact with their customers on regular basis. And, as an
outcome of this influence, digital media has pushed and helped the business world into the
information age and industrial age. The current investigation focuses on carrying out data about
the importance of digital media within an organisation and its impact over increasing the whole
business performance.
Organisational background
The chosen organisation of the current research report is Marks & Spencer. Marks and
Spencer is generally known as M&S among people. It is popular and known as British
multinational retailer. The headquarters of this multinational retailer is located in London, United
Kingdom. It is specialised in selling home products, food products and selling clothing. The
company was founded in the year 1884 by Thomas Spencer and Michael Marks in Leeds. In the
current time, the company has 959 stores across the United Kingdom. It includes 615 stores
specifically for selling food products and by its advertisement through television, asserts the
exclusive luxury and nature of its beverages and foods. It also provides great online food
delivery service by a joint venture with Ocado.
Significance of the problem
The main purpose of conducting the investigation is to determine the significance of
digital media technologies in the current age where people are connected with each other through
several electronic devices. The report works on taking out significant piece of information about
the several digital media platforms adopted by company to increase their business performance

and attract large number of customers. It is being determined from the prior conducted research
that companies have faced issue in deciding the suitable type of digital media platform for
reaching out their existing and potential customers (Ng and Yee, 2020). There are also many
challenges that are faced by companies while adopting and implementing advance technologies
within an organisation. The defined problems need to be addressed at right time because if it is
not addressed at right time then they can take more dangerous in future. The current report aims
at finding the ways and strategies for companies by which they can easily adopt suitable digital
media platform form for their business and overcome all those challenges that become barrier in
the implementation procedure of advance technologies.
Statement of purpose
The statement of purpose of the present investigation is determining the effective and
useful types of digital media platforms and their advantages to the company. The current report
directly aims at taking out relevant information so that companies operating in the market could
easily select most useful digital technology within the workplace (Verhoef and Bijmolt, 2019).
The current research is also quite significant for researchers, students, professors, organisations,
entrepreneurs etc. This research can act as foundation for other researchers in future on the same
topic because it involves great piece of significant information (Ritson, 2017). This is also useful
for students as well as professors because it also has information that can be easily taught for
academic purpose. Hence, the main purpose is to carry out data about the significance of digital
media strategies in the workplace(Rocamora, 2018).
Rationale of the research
The main purpose of conducting the current research is determining the importance of
digital media platforms and information technologies for increasing the performance and
development of the whole company (Flew, Suwana and Tam, 2018). In the present modern time
where everything is completed with the assistance of digital methods, it has become vital for
companies to invest their time and funds for identifying appropriate digital media so that they
can increase their reach of customers. It is being identified that companies need to improve their
investment level on advance information technologies so that whole work could be done with
greater efficiency and accuracy. With the changes in time, companies are fully moving towards
developing and transforming their workplace digitally. The current research is vital because it
shows gathered information about adopted digital media technique and information technology

by one of the multinational companies. The report has also covered challenges faced by
companies while adopting technologies of digital media in the workplace. There are two other
important perspectives that are attained by conducting the present investigation that are personal
and professional objective. In terms of personal perspective, I will get to learn about forming
learning personality in me so that I can understand and develop with the changes happening in
the whole surroundings. This will improve my knowledge level in my personal and I will also
learn to adapt with the changes. On the other hand, in respect of professional perspective I will
get to know about different kinds of digital media technologies and this will assist in my
professional career where I could easily use these methods for attracting large number of
customers and gaining competitive advantage. Hence, the report is very important as well as
useful for having great knowledge about the concept of digital media strategies.
Aim and objectives
Research Aim
To identify the importance of digital media platforms and information technologies for
enhancing the development and performance of the whole organisation. A study on Marks and
Spencer
Research Objectives
 To identify the concept of information technologies and digital media platforms within an
organisation
 To determine different types of digital media platforms and information technologies
adopted by Marks & Spencer
 To discern the benefits experienced by Marks & Spencer by the adoption of digital media
platforms
 To examine the challenges faced by Marks & Spencer while implementing information
technologies and digital media platforms within the workplace
Research Questions
 What is the conceptual framework of information technologies and digital media
platforms within an organisation?
 What are the various types of digital media platforms and information technologies
adopted by Marks & Spencer?

 What are the benefits experienced by Marks & Spencer by the adoption of digital media
platforms ?
 What are the challenges faced by Marks & Spencer while implementing information
technologies and digital media platforms within the workplace?
Dissertation Structure
Chapter 1: Introduction- This is referred as the first chapter and known as introduction. This
includes basic information about the whole topic and the reason of selecting topic with their
appropriate aim, objectives and questions.
Chapter 2: Literature Review- This is the second chapter which include questions of the
research and researcher tries to take address those questions with apt piece of secondary piece of
information.
Chapter 3: Research Methodology- This chapter gives research methods to collect, evaluate and
analyse data so that the investigation could be relevant as well as reliable.
Chapter 4: Findings and Analysis- In this chapter findings and analysis is done by researcher.
The finding is taken out from accumulated secondary piece of information.
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendations- The last chapter provides the whole summary of
every section of the chapter. It also includes recommendations for the chosen company.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature review is defined as the chapter that assists in carrying out second-hand
information from several sources such as books, newspapers, journals, articles, publications etc.
In the section of literature review research questions are addressed in systematic and appropriate
manner.
What is the conceptual framework of information technologies and digital media platforms
within an organisation?
According to Flew (2019), in business organisation terms, digital media platforms are one
of the places for exchanging goods, services and information to occur between consumers and
producers as well as the community that interacts with platform. It is quite imperative for
understanding that the community itself is necessary piece of the digital platform. Companies
interact with multiple digital platforms on a continuous basis and thanks to the growth and
success of the approach of the digital platforms. Digital platforms consider a lot of several forms
depending on the organisation model they employ and the particular motives they seek to serve.
There are many examples of successful digital platforms which include: social media platforms
such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Media sharing platforms such as YouTube,
Spotify and many more. Digital media platforms give value to everyone within the whole
ecosystem of the platform while making a profit for the company that formed and arranges it by
several business model like subscriptions, advertising, combination of these and several other
methods of profit-turning.
The best way for describing digital media platforms is by understanding about the
necessary pieces essential for creating successful digital platforms. Some of the critical aspects
of digital platforms are: It is quite easy for use and immediately appealing to many users, these
platforms are trustworthy and secure as terms and conditions are clearly described and assures
data ownership and intellectual property, it facilitates exchanges between consumers and
producers, provides value to the whole community and many more. The transformations with the
assistance of digital methods look different for companies because every company has different
objectives in their mind but a tangible objectives for seeking by digital transformation is the
development of digital platforms (Petersen, Tanner and Munsie, 2019). While there is no lack of
several digital platforms, there is room for greater innovation and niche services that have

customers waiting for the day when their requirements are finally fulfilled. Digital
transformation in the organisation involves application of advance technology. This brings every
operation of the whole organisation in faster manner. For this new information technologies is
adopted because this assists in providing new ideas to the organisation. This helps companies to
reap the rewards with the assistance of digital transformation without bringing actual change
within the organisation.
According to Serafica and Oren, (2021), information technology is referred as an integral
part of single single business plan. Information technology plays essential role in every
organisation type involving small, medium and multinational companies (Zhao, 2019). The
company uses information technology for implementing greater level of communication in the
workplace. Information technology helps in securing data of the organisation as it is the most
significant element in the whole business and this is considered as key drivers of companies
because it effectively manages data. Securing and protecting data has become easy with the
assistance of information technology by storage devices, databases and document digital
versions. These options have helped businesses in ensuring security, data consistency, easy
replication and many more. Storage data is the other benefit if the data could be considered
efficiently. Advanced organisations consider data in the procedure of strategic planning in
addition to the implementation of the strategy. The advantage of advance information technology
in the organisation is it helps in planning the sales data, efficiency and cost levels. Management
could easily find regular levels of sales and allow companies to directly respond to below than
projected numbers by rising efficiency of workers or dropping the product's cost (Sehl, Cornia
and Nielsen, 2018). Companies use information technology for developing effective methods in
the management of customer relationship. Instead of completely depending upon communication
in relation to traditional perspective, organisations usually host a system of customer relationship
management that connect the system of business to customers in secured and faster manner.
As per the viewpoint of Serafica and Oren (2021), information technology plays a
significant role in increasing the profitability and productivity of business. It generally helps to
support, grow and sustain a business for long term. Marks and Spencer make he investment in
Information technology in order to remain competitive in market and gain competitive advantage
over its competitors. One of the oldest tool of Information technology is Website. Marks and
Spencer have its own website through which company can provide relevant information about

the products and services to its customer. Through information technology, company can build
communication network, create and administer database, safeguard data and information and
also help staff from troubleshoot problems. Marks and Spencer must focus on keeping
technology up to date at workplace in order to stay innovative and increase the productivity of
business. An innovative organisation generally gain competitive advantage in market and also
increases customer base. Technology also helps in making security and safety in workplace.
Innovative technology helps in reducing the breaches of security and threat of data thefts. It also
helps in keeping business fully organised and keep everything on track. Information technology
enable employees to be more efficient and productive. In Marks and Spencer, information
technology helps in increasing collaboration by allowing employees to facilitate continued
partnership and increase the level of flexibility in communication. The manager of company
focuses on engaging employees in social gathering and activities so that workers can work
collectively and achieve the goals and objective of business. Technology helps in improving cost
management due to which company can earn higher profitability. Through information
technology, employees are encouraged to optimise their task and use time in order to increase the
profitability and growth of business. There are various technologies which are used by Marks
and Spencer in its workplace such as Virtual collaboration tools, virtual on-boarding for remote
employees, touchless technology, space management software, remote IT services and space
optimisation software. By implementing these technology, Marks and Spencer ensures the safety
and security of employees due to which more and more people attracts towards the brand.
As per the opinion of Le Thuy and Oe (2020), digital media platforms generally include
the content of technology which are used by people through machine readable platform. It helps
in sharing the information through digital screen or device. Digital media platforms helps in
facilitating social interaction, align how consumer shop and also level up the playing field for
small business. There are various types of digital media platforms such as social media
platforms, media sharing platforms, service oriented platforms and knowledge platforms. Digital
media platforms helps in facilitating social interaction by offering users more engaging content.
Through digital media platforms, company can interact with their potential customer and attract
them with their content. It also helps in increasing brand awareness and availability of learning
resources. Marks and Spencer have great presence on social media platforms through which they
attracts more and more customer towards the brand. Digital media platforms helps company with

not only for their responsibility but also helps in marketing their products and services. It helps
in reaching to wider market consumers and increase the sale and revenue of company. Marks and
Spencer have strong presence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram where they actively post the
content and engage audience. By digital media platforms, organisation and individual can
maintain healthy relationship across distance and time. It also helps in facilitating social
interaction and enable consumers to connect with company despite their location. The ability to
use smartphones, internet and email make easier for working professionals to finish their task
quickly. The increased productivity helps Marks and Spencer to generate more revenue and sales
by making them more competitive in market (Cullinane and et. al., 2019).
What are the various types of digital media platforms and information technologies adopted by
Marks & Spencer?
According to Flew, Suwana and Tam (2018), Marks & Spencer had hit a reset on
initiatives of marketing for arresting the long-term downward trajectory of their organisation.
Marks & Spencer has several fresh five-year strategies and methods over the years that were
refreshed as the organisation failed to recover. The strategic report of M&S of the year had
reported 3% downfall of the group revenue. There are many reasons that are identified by Archie
Norman for the financial failure of Marks & Spencer. One is slow, siloed and hierarchical
organisational structure, not able to adapt different trends of the market, unable to align the
stores estate with preferences of the customers, lack of clarity and depth of scale that confuses
purchasers, lack of scope, inadequate facilities, higher price perception and many more. The
major reason of steady downfall of Marks & Spencer is the disconnect with consumers because
of the outdated technologies and stale culture of the organisation. The leadership team of Marks
& Spencer has determined catching with new trends, staying updated with preferences of the
customers, increasing trade with the assistance of technology and making experiences simpler,
faster and valuable could assist turnaround the organisation. Some of the digital media platforms
adopted by Marks & Spencer are:
The social strategy: To keep up with the dynamics of marketing, increasing social media
presence for observing and responding to the trends of customer experience and this is one of the
top priorities. These strategies are:

 Social media strategy is one of the parts of a more relevant and targeted customer
marketing plan for Marks & Spencer. This provides variety of platforms to reach large
number of customers.
 Instagram has become central to its social media marketing strategy for attracting young
shoppers and moving a third of its sales online. With the assistance of social media
platforms the company consistently make their customers familiar with the products and
services.
 The clothing line strategy of Marks & Spencer is directly focused towards conversion
with sponsored videos and posts and clear call to actions for increasing sales, promoting
particular products and goods and conversion based advertisements.
 The social media strategy for food is about increasing awareness about the brand
organically. Marks & Spencer uses smart creatives for driving engagement by stitching
together consumer generated posts, gamification and so on.
Digital first: Marks & Spencer has struggled and worked hard for keeping up the pace
with its digitally savvy competitors such as Asos and Zara. The retailer Marks & Spencer has
aimed to become a digital first retailer and some of the digital transformation involves:
 Marks & Spencer has optimised their website, redesigned their webpage, enhanced
product imagery and improved proposition of delivery. Website is known as the online
face of the organisation in front of the existing and potential customers. So, M&S has
shown worked to improve their online face by improving its appearance and made
changes and simplified as per the needs and requirements of the customers. The company
also focused on making convenient on-site navigation and providing personalised
experiences.
 Marks & Spencer has also invested in mobile first experiences with several tools like
Style Finder for visual and digital search. Mobile is one of the Marks and Spencer's
fastest growing areas of consumer traffic and has an great conversion rates and have
updated in-outlets Wi-Fi for delivering better experiences to employees and customers.
The aim of Marks and Spencer is reducing long queues by using applications for
accelerating the self-checkout program (Saurwein and Spencer-Smith, 2021).
There are various other digital media platforms which are adopted by Marks and Spencer
in order to increase their sale and efficiency in market. Organisation uses different types of

digital media platform and information technology so that they can remain competitive and
sustain in market for long run (Ng and Yee, 2020). Marks and Spencer have active presence on
social media platforms that helps in reaching to maximum number of potential customers such as
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Consistent sponsored posts and videos is one of the type of digital media platform
which is implemented by Marks and Spencer. They are actively engaged in social media
platforms for attracting more and more customer towards the brand and increase the sale of
business. The consistent sponsored post and videos helps in increasing engagement level and
also inform the customer about the new arrivals. Through posting regularly, company make
aware about the new launches of products and services due to which consumers will expect and
look forward to content.
Social media strategy such as Instagram and Facebook is also a type of digital media
platforms which is used by Marks and Spencer in order to attract maximum number of people
towards the company. Through using social media strategy, Marks and Spencer can create
direction and also keep consistency in market. It helps in attracting consumers and build loyalty
among them. Social media strategy also increase the market reach and revenue by building
advertising and customer networks.
Company's website and webpage is also a kind of digital media platforms which helps
in providing relevant information to consumers about the products and services. Marks and
Spencer have its own website where they sell and attract consumers towards the goods and
services. Organisation website helps in exchanging information and also advertise the products
and services in market. The website of Marks and Spencer gives opportunity to people to
properly review the current functionality they provide and also establish credibility.
The different technology which are used by Marks and Spencer in order to maximise the
profit and increase customer base are Artificial intelligence, machine learning, touchless
technology, virtual remote on boarding and space management software. Through implementing
these technology, company can work efficiently and effectively and achieve their business goals
and objectives.
Artificial intelligence is one of the type of information technology which is used by
Marks and Spencer in order to modernise their supply chain. The brand implements artificial
intelligence technology for improving the availability of its products while cutting food waste.